First flown in 1938, The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the United States Navy's main dive-bomber during World War II. The Dauntless featured "Swiss cheese" flaps—dive brakes punched with 3-inch holes, which helped it achieve pinpoint accuracy when diving to the target. The cockpit accommodated the pilot, who doubled as the bombardier and manned a fixed-forward gun. The rear cockpit contained a machine gun and played a major defensive role. During the Battle of Midway, SBD dive-bomber attacks fatally damaged all four of the Japanese aircraft carriers, and heavily damaged two cruisers.

Hobby Master's 1:72 scale SBD Dauntless is constructed almost entirely from diecast metal, with plastic components used to achieve maximum detail. The large bird-cage style canopy has fine rivet details and is removable for an unobstructed view of the cockpit with pad-printed instrumentation, direction finding antenna and rear gunner station with machine gun. The swing arm that cradles the center mounted bomb is positionable and can be displayed in the pre-launch configuration. Some releases feature perforated dive brakes that are either fixed in the closed position or in the deployed position, and some include under-wing mounted bombs and antenna. Variants in the series include both early and later versions.